“No, I’m fine,” she smiled nervously.
They walked through the maze of cubicles together, Edward slightly in the lead, and then they reached his office. “After you,” he said, letting her in and closing the door behind them. “Take a seat.”
She sat down opposite his desk. He moved to sit down as well, fixing her with a long, enigmatic look, before finally starting to talk. “Nicole, I’m going to be frank with you. I’ve spoken at length with everyone in our team about this, particularly with Remi Danvers. And we don’t feel as though you’re a good fit to work as assistant to the art director at this time.”
Nicole nodded, trying to keep the emotion from her face. “I know that people are unhappy with how things have come about between Red and—“
He put up his hand. “We’re not going there.”
“But obviously this is because I’m seeing Red. People think I’m getting preferential treatment.”
“You have to understand my position, Nicole. Red Jameson is the CEO of this company and I’m an employee. I’m his employee and I follow his directions. However, I still need to make sure my team functions effectively, and this…situation…is causing the team to become dysfunctional.”
“I’m sorry.”
“From now on, you’ll be working with me, personally,” he said.
She was stunned. “What will my duties be?”
“You’ll sit in on meetings, take notes, handle certain kinds of correspondence, call people for me and relay messages. And plenty more.”
“Like an administrative assistant,” Nicole said, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice.
He shrugged. “Your title won’t change, nor will your pay. You’ll simply be working for me instead of Remi.”
“I was doing creative work with Remi, and I really enjoyed that.”
He smiled. “I understand you enjoyed it, Nicole, but unfortunately she didn’t enjoy it quite as much as you did.”
***
Red asked Nicole to meet him for lunch in the cafeteria, which she did, even though she knew all eyes would be on them.
When she first saw her fiancé standing and waiting for her at the entrance to the lunchroom, she wanted to throw herself into his arms and cry. She felt like a little kid who’s had a terrible day at school.
“Hi,” he said, smiling at her as she walked toward him.
“Hi.” She tried to put her best, most convincing smile on in return.
“That bad?” he asked, reaching out and lightly touching her arm. Of course he could see right through her act.
She nodded but kept smiling. “Shall we?”
“But of course.”
They walked together. Luckily, it was early for lunch, so there weren’t all that many people eating yet. Still, even with the few employees in the cafeteria, there were plenty of eyes following them.
Nicole could feel it sometimes, especially as they walked past. People pretended not to notice, and then as soon as her back was to them, she felt them staring. Occasionally she turned and caught someone in the act.
It was almost humorous, except it wasn’t. Not really.
Red got them both special meals from the Italian kitchen. Chicken Marsala for him, Chicken Cacciatore for her. “You won’t be disappointed,” he told her, as they took a window seat in a somewhat secluded area of the cafeteria.
He unfolded his napkin and laid it across his lap, then dug into his meal with gusto.
Nicole hardly had an appetite, but she picked at her food so as not to upset him.
“How do you feel about seeing your new home tonight?” he asked, looking up briefly from his food.
“Nervous. But mostly excited.” It was true, she was excited. Unfortunately, she’d barely thought about the good things happening since that disappointing meeting with Edward.
Red sensed her uneasiness and put his knife and fork down. “Okay. What now?”
“Don’t be annoyed with me,” she said softly.
“I’m not annoyed, I’m concerned. What’s going on?”
She told him about the meeting with Edward and he leaned back in his chair, shaking his head when she finished. “I’m sorry that the creative team is choosing to handle things this way.”
“Please don’t intervene on my behalf,” she told him.
Red grinned. “How did you know I would?”
“I know you. Or, I know how you behave when you’re challenged.”
“I won’t stand for ill treatment of the woman I love.”
Nicole smiled despite herself. “I can take care of myself. I need to prove to them that I can handle whatever they throw at me.”
“I like your attitude.” He started eating again.
“They want to run me out of the group,” she said. “Don’t they?”
“Yes.”
“But they know they can’t fire me or overtly sabotage me, so they’re going to try and freeze me out and make things miserable enough that I quit.”